How to Trace Coaxial Cable with ONLY a Multimeter

[@DominickRuocco]

I have 15 years of experience in electrical and NEVER knew about the tin foil trick. I just used this in my mom's house to identify a coaxial cable in her living room, and it worked perfectly. Thank you!

[@therenodummy]

Thanks! I'm glad it worked for you

[@Peter_Riis_DK]

Really?!

[@DominickRuocco]

@Peter_Riis_DK Yes, it works. Try it yourself.

[@iminyomommy7889]

Trust me dude I’ve been doing it for about a good three years strong often on and you’re not missing anything. Because that is the longest way to Matt coaxial cable all you need is the toner in touch and go toner where you don’t have to worry about tvOS work of adding for Yulin touching to ins and then going downstairs and check another two wins where the touch and go Turner will automatically detect call Dee Ave home about you just having all the collector cables

[@iminyomommy7889]

The easiest way that I have found is if you get one of those toners from Cline do you attach the receiver on one end and take your wand go downstairs and just tap all the coaxial until you get a beep

[@GB-rb1up]

Genius way of keeping it simple! A low-tech solution to a high-tech problem.

[@rogerpatry5167]

Man, these tips were soooo useful in mapping my unmapped home. Thank you!

[@noelelnolo9642]

Sometimes the least technological method is the easiest and the cheapest. Great job!!

[@ralphlong4399]

I am inexperienced and this worked like a charm. It was super easy.

[@AzSaltRiver556]

I was a CATV contractor back in the day, late 80's - early 90's. This is what we used when coming to a large prewired facility, home and/or apartment building with zero identification of the cabling. We took a green LED, inserted the positive (+) lead into an F-81 barrel connector and the negative (-) lead shortened and placed it touching the outside of the connector. Then inserted the LED inside of an RG-6 connector where the dielectric typically resides. Lastly, a short piece of coax cable, a 9-volt battery with the braid connected to the neg (-) of a 9V battery harness , and the stinger (center conductor) of the cable to the pos (+) of the battery harness. Tape the battery to the cable neatly with electrical tape and secure the connections and wrap with tape. Finally, terminate a coax connector to the other end. You then take the battery end of your new tool, snap the battery harness connector to the battery, screw into any faceplate. Then go to the head end and start inserting the unmarked cables into the F-81 end of your new tool. When you select the line with the 9V, the LED lights up.

[@therenodummy]

Wow. Sounds complicated but I'd like to see it.

[@AzSaltRiver556]

@@therenodummy Yes, may sound complicated but actually very easy and takes about 5 minutes to make one. I still have my original one somewhere, saw it not too long ago. I'll see if I can locate it.

[@johnpietersen93]

This is an incredible hack. I was just shopping for a coax cable tester when I saw this. Thanks!!!

[@VetteVet493]

Thanks so much! I was just about to buy a coax tester for this purpose, only to probably have it sit on my workbench forever after that! Excellent information!

[@svenlindahl5607]

massively helpful video instructions. Thanks for putting this together.

[@TheNightShiftt]

This is so simple yet so smart thank you for this I just got a house and there is so many coaxial cables in here and it’s too hot to go up in the attic this makes it so much easier to see what cables are actually outside for internet

[@therenodummy]

Thanks! My house was the same way. Tons of unlabeled cables!

[@huy3148]

@@therenodummy Hi, I see the orange clip you use to name, lable the cable. What is that? Could you please tell me the product brand or Amazon link? thanks and best wishes

[@therenodummy]

@@huy3148 here is the link but it looks like they're not available right now www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H26CHGJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[@tlongsway]

Just used your method and figured out my issues in less than 5 minutes. Four minutes was spent walking up and down my stairs. LOL Thank you!

[@MusicEducationwiththeMan]

Wow, how ingenious! Three Years ago we moved into a large two story house. I believe that a coaxial cable runs from where a tv antenna use to be, to our television in our TV Room. Now I know how to test the continuity of the coaxial cable. I will have to go into the attic when colder weather arrives in South Texas. Thank you!

[@therenodummy]

I'm in Alabama. So I feel you on waiting until cold weather!

[@00juz]

I have no words man how simple a trick this is and yet my smooth brain could have never imagined it. Thank you so much for sharing this buddy!

[@jpcabrera8906]

Straight up saved my sanity dude. Turned out the splitter coming from my otc was no good. I was only able to find this out using your trick. I woulda gone crazy trying trying multiple connections. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@Toky0J]

This worked like a charm! I have 9 cables going into a box outside and only need 1 connected, and this helped save me a ton of time. Thank you so much for making this video!!

[@be236]

Nice tip using aluminum foil to cause the short circuit (closed loop) to test for continuity. I'll have to try this on my various cables thru the house...

[@CoryG-r4u]

Wow! I was thinking maybe a AA battery and use multimeter and gauge voltage which maybe wasn’t the best idea and found your video and so glad I did! Makes so much sense, thank you for the video, worked perfect and mapped all 12 coaxial is in my house, saved me $80 from the cable company coming to look at lines in house.

[@johnjschultz5414]

The foil trick is what I was looking for. Now I can proceed with the MoCA setup. Thank you!

[@mattpopovich]

Worked to identify coax cables from 1970 in my house. Thank you!

[@baldorthewizard]

Thank you for saving my day, this made figuring stuff out with my birds nest so much faster.

[@JB11335]

Thank you for saving me from purchasing a coaxial tester! You the real MVP!

[@rusty2407]

You can also determine the length and integrity of the outlet by using a 75ohm terminator instead of the aluminum foil. A 100’ outlet will read 79ohms as RG6 picks up roughly 1 ohm per 25’ of coaxial cable length.

[@therenodummy]

That's a great idea as well. Not everyone has terminators but if you did that'd be a great method. Thanks for the input.

[@erroric_]

This was unbelievably helpful. Thank you.

[@weezintrumpeteer]

This was a great, clear, concise video that solved my problem. Thank you!

[@nickw8066]

Excellent idea, I was dreading having to buy a special tool. Thanks for saving me some $$!

[@therenodummy]

I'm glad it helped

[@johnnygonzales3211]

Thanks awesome info I'm going to use this method in my RV.

[@wayne352]

Awesome and simple trick just answered my question! Clear and concise video!! Good job!

[@jakeweiser2781]

You’re a genius!!! This saved me hours of hassle. Thanks!

[@paulguerrero3560]

I just bought me a Channel Master Antenna w/the Mounting Pole, Mounting Bracket & the Amplifier, so tomorrow I will try to do the cable tracing. Thank You for your Video.

[@therenodummy]

Great. I'm glad it helped! I hope your install went smoothly.

[@tpmarkham]

Thank you so much!!! This was so simple, and I already own a couple of multimeters.

[@Sweet_Sour_kid_Friendly]

Thanks for the info! Appreciate people like you on KZbin that guide us thru situation like this one!

[@kamX-rz4uy]

Awesome! I was trying to install a MoCA adapter but none of the six cables worked. I didn't know if it was a problem with the modem, adapter, or cable. Using this trick I found none with continuity and like you mentioned the cable was just sitting in the cable outlet box and not connected. I won't go into who's the dummy responsible for that :) After that it was easy to confirm which cable went to the bedroom.

[@Blessd-savingrace]

Wow! I didn't know ANYTHING about cable let alone how 2 do this!! Thank you for 5 sharing this video

[@therenodummy]

Great. I'm glad it helped!

[@researchcapt]

I would first test to see if any are shorted before doing the test.

[@JJFlores197]

I'm going to have to give this a try. Thanks! Although coax won't be too pertinent anymore at my house since I just got fiber installed, I'm still going to map out the coax runs just in case.

[@JeffDeanTheDeanZone]

Good job! When the Cable company came over and hooked me up cable service through my router and modem (using smart TVs) I had a cable connection in every room and they all worked. I had just bought the house and the inspectors checked them. I also had a multiple connector amplifier in my attic where all the cables converged and connected. I even had cable out to my pool area. I could have a tv in any room I wanted. The cable guy CUT all of my cables in the attic. He went to the wall jacks and cut the cables and removed the connectors so there were just holes. He took the amplifier with him when he left. I got crappy service with the cable company and they kept raising the prices every few months. So I bought a large digital antenna. I live in an area where you can get about 25 channels for free via antenna. However, all the cable ends will now have to be repaired and I will have to map all of those cables. You just made the job tenable.

[@therenodummy]

Wow. That'd make me so mad. Well I'm glad this helped a little

[@JeffDeanTheDeanZone]

@@therenodummy You could, instead of using a piece of foil, get yourself a coaxial splitter and then take your spare small coaxial cable and hook it to both outputs, then put the cable you're trying to find into the input.

[@juani2929]

Bro this is stupid simple. THANK YOU!!

[@DJWRailroad]

Yeah, outstanding vid, delivery, job in general.

[@matheusalves8618]

Thank you! You saved me so much time!

[@grenebulax]

Perfect! Didn't want to buy a tool I would only use once.

[@therenodummy]

Great. Glad it helped.

[@grenebulax]

@@therenodummy it worked amazingly. Was moving a modem to a different room and didn't want to trace lines. Thought I messed up at first because it worked on the very first cable I tried. But just got lucky I guess. Definitely remembering this little life hack and will pass it along. Thanks again.

[@josephbrubaker2373]

Brilliant! Glad you posted!

[@junglemastah]

Dude fantastic! 🔥 Edit, worked like a charm!

[@kevinthompson1064]

Yesssss!! Never even thought about the ball of aluminum foil..1/2 way thru finding/labeling all of mine!

[@therenodummy]

Awesome. Glad it helped

[@BruceH-ii7tx]

Just did this and it worked perfectly! Thank you

[@idallover303]

This is an excellent video! Very handy trick. I'm going to send this video to the cable guy who keeps running cables all over the neighborhood outside from the utility box into/across people's yards into their living rooms cause the utility box is a rats nest.

[@chrish4483]

Thank you! Great video! Saved my butt trying to map RG6 cable in my motorcoach

[@therenodummy]

That's awesome!

[@trikerjon]

Thank you great video. Been trying to figure this out for a long time 👍

[@therenodummy]

You're welcome!

[@CaliAnDrewK]

Dude. Great job. Thank you so much for something so easy.

[@therenodummy]

I'm glad it helped. Please subscribe

[@JumbleTronChannel]

This is the genius hack I've been looking for. Thank you 👍👍👍

[@therenodummy]

Great. Glad it was helpful!

[@02uche]

Great scott, have you considered lecturing? This was helpful!

[@adamwberanek]

I just bought a house that I'm pretty sure has at least 30 coax cables running through it - for TVs I guess? Not sure why some rooms need 2, 3 or 4 connectors but this little trick will help me know how to start pulling them out - thanks!

[@brianholz9882]

Don’t pull them out. Leave them for future use. I can use coax for many things.

[@therenodummy]

True.

[@adamwberanek]

@@brianholz9882 What are some things you can use them for?

[@brianholz9882]

@@adamwberanek voice, data, cable, and even run Ethernet through it with a MoCA adapter

[@adamwberanek]

@@brianholz9882 okay that's pretty cool, thanks for sharing!

[@Johnlee0513]

Thanks you just saved me 50 bucks....I was all set to buy an ADM

[@therenodummy]

That's great!

[@aoningjaney895]

Thank you for this very super useful video

[@Trucker2004]

Yes, tx. Will use this to sort all these cables that era giving a crazy headache !

[@rexriley2735]

Brilliant! You saved me big time. Thanks!!

[@stephenkirk1222]

Thank you bro! Tremendous help

[@xspixels]

this is exactly what I was looking for! thanks!

[@ITAINTMINE]

This is awesome I had no idea .

[@daveprice6870]

Brilliantly made video helped me so much, thank you.👍

[@therenodummy]

Awesome. Thanks for the kind words.

[@albertabdullayev3108]

To make the test more reliable maybe it would be a good idea to check the all ends for short circuits before jumpering the other end, so that you leave zero chance two ends would beep, and then you get confused which is actually which.

[@MOPAC85]

I’m wondering if a barrel connector could be a substitute for the foil?

[@therenodummy]

I would think metal coax caps could work but the barrel connector won't complete the circuit by itself.

[@tonysdroid]

Worked great! Thanks a lot!

[@NathanTaylor1]

I am so glad I found this. Now that I know which cables lead where, does anyone have advice on selecting an amplifier? When I tested with an HDHomeRun/antenna instead of using this method, it couldn't find any channels at all. The Mohu amp I had laying around didn't do squat either. Is this a different type of amplifier? $50 Televes Distribution something something? TIA

[@jamesthann9488]

This really helped me, thank you!👌

[@biggdaddyyourhonor5418]

You the Man, thanks for the tip!

[@mudko3589]

This is clutch. Thank you!

[@h.ar.2937]

0:57 I freaked out I was alone at home and thought this was coming from inside the house😂😂😂

[@stonee1968]

Great video - exact info i needed.

[@therenodummy]

I'm glad it helped.

[@dtheoharides]

Smart idea... worked slick!

[@amerc7113]

Thanks, this method was super helpful

[@therenodummy]

Glad it helped!

[@andrewskyes9956]

If the cable doesn't have the cap i can put one connector on the mesh and another on the copper wire ? and if it has signal on it i should get the beep?

[@therenodummy]

Yea that should work the same way. The cap just makes it easier.

[@tinapruitt5648]

Thank you for this all the issues bought has had four different satellite TV services the correct have been cut and who knows what else😔 I noticed where my heating unit is there is a splitter thingy that has to cables going somewhere but nothing running into it. I’m hoping your Handy dandy video solves The mystery so I can plug in my TV Antenna :)

[@therenodummy]

Great. I'm glad it helped!

[@xmultanix]

I'm going to try this tomorrow. Thanks!

[@therenodummy]

Let me know if it worked for you

[@dankeeton9599]

Thanks I was going to use a jumper wire with alligator clips but I think the aluminum ball will be a lot easier

[@hoapologist]

Very simple and helpful. Thankyou

[@therenodummy]

Good to hear. Thanks!

[@AnonQC]

👏👏👏You *just won yourself a new subscriber👏👏👏👍

[@therenodummy]

Ha. I'm glad it helped

[@AnonQC]

@@therenodummy my landlord got a old appartement building and and ask me 2 days a go to fix the cable in one of the unit, wen i wen to look for the cable entry point... i saw around 5 different cable in the unit and maybe around 12 going to the dmx tower for the old tv air antena and 4 going to the cable company box. so I will use this hack on a chosen cable in side and go test the 16 different one outside ^^

[@stevemartin9310]

Will this method work if there is a splitter between the two ends?

[@therenodummy]

Good question. I haven't tried it but I think it'll still work. If one cable is on a splitter with 2 cables then those 2 cables should make your multimeter buzz.

[@stevemartin9310]

Okay. I will let you know. I will be giving it a try later today. Thanks for the video.

[@stevemartin9310]

This does work with splitters in between ends. Also I just used a coax end cap with a Male/Male connector on the end instead of foil. That also works and you don't need to take the wall plate off if trying to find the end of a wall outlet.

[@therenodummy]

Very good. I knew the end caps worked but I didn't show that. I assumed most people don't have any. Thanks for sharing.

[@DrDangleyLegs]

Hey, thanks for this. The tin foil method didnt work for me, but gave me another idea. I had some crocodile clip leads so attached those to a AA battery on one end, then used my meter to measure voltage on the other end. This worked for me.

[@therenodummy]

That's a great idea!

[@Lemonades1321]

How did you clip it to the double A batteries especially the neg side?

[@johngalt156]

Help! I have 11 coax to various places over 3 stories and one feed coax from fios ont. all but 3 have tone?! I places 3 foil balls as you showed, one on each floor??? Could my coax network be opposite, where 3 with foil get no tone and all others without do get tone?!?!? Help

[@therenodummy]

If 3 of the coax have tone and you're only using one tin foil ball on one coax then I would think those 3 are connected to a splitter somewhere

[@johngalt156]

@@therenodummy each of the 3 had the foil? Strange

[@therenodummy]

@@johngalt156 I don't think I understand what you have going on. What I would do is find the splitter that the main feed connects to. Then I would put one foil ball on one coax at a time until I have mapped all of them.

[@rotfan77]

One day my cable Internet went out and everyone around me (neighbors) still had Internet so I wasn’t sure what had gone bad and knew it was either the wire coming to the house from the cable company, my wire in the house (taking that signal to my modem ), or the modem itself. The modem powered up but would not show Internet signal connecting to the Internet like I did the night before. Need to find a test to try to figure out what was going on.

[@therenodummy]

I would hope the cable company could figure it out for you

[@lungilempati5265]

Great video...this should solve my problem

[@mikedeee6968]

Incredible!

[@coffeedrinker88]

very helpful, thank you.

[@therenodummy]

Glad it was helpful!

[@diyi75]

Brilliant 😮

[@covertolds5932]

Brilliant! I have some work to do. Thanks.

[@therenodummy]

Hope it works for you!

[@elfnetdesigns702]

RG6U 75 ohm TV cable has a steel center conductor that is copper coated it's not solid copper.. Now this trick will help you trace down lines to their destinations but it will not show you if the cable is compromised which will affect things like internet service to a modem. Chances are the cables will be fine thopugh but if you have any issues with signal quality then you may need to replace that run or move your equipment to a different jack

[@MOPAC85]

Great video Sir.

[@calvinbarajas5144]

Awesome, thums up!

[@428BP]

What if you only have a wire no that would go directly into a tv? There’s no coax plate on the wall or anything??

[@therenodummy]

If it's just the bare copper sticking out of the cable then you'll need to put a connector on.

[@istvan_m]

Great idea

[@yoyosauto2836]

It is one of the best Wey Thank you

[@therenodummy]

You're welcome!

[@dr.octagon9450]

Brah you saved me $20 🤙

[@patricklavergne1453]

If you don't have a coaxial connector on one end of coaxial cable can you tape a ball of aluminum foil to that end so that it attempts to touch the center connector and metal mesh?

[@therenodummy]

Yea in theory that should work too.

[@nickparini-ec7ee]

Could I use a multimeter to find the main coax cable ? We just moved into a new house and we have a ton of disconnected cables and I’m not even sure what the main cable is to connect to the splitter

[@therenodummy]

I would either trace it from where it enters the house or you could use this trick and find all the ones that are not the main line and then you'll know which one is the main...

[@leathermule4824]

Very smart trick 😅

[@Jim-re3sr]

Great video

[@therenodummy]

Thanks!

[@leakyjeep5.9]

Amazing. Worked!

[@therenodummy]

Great. I'm glad it helped!

[@EdGattsek]

Super helpful. Ty

[@AppleiOSGenius]

Can I use multimeter to see if the ethernet cable on 1 end links to the coaxial on the other end, I think there is a convertor adapter connecting both of them or else it is split to merge them for PoE except to coaxial - it is an old camera system and I fluked it but can't find the ethernet connection. And on old DVR cameras mostly is coaxial and wondering if this trick would work or another idea would work.

[@therenodummy]

Good question. I haven't done any work with Ethernet cables so I don't the answer. Sorry. Let me know if you figure out a way. The only thing I would hope is that the coaxial adapter is right behind one of the wall plates. Then you could unhook it and just test both ends of the coaxial.

[@readynow12345]

How about this, connect it to your tv & if you get a signal it works.

[@therenodummy]

Ha. That is true. However I didn't want to carry a TV to every room in my house to map them.